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| Rating 7/10 |
The music for trees that die standing tall. From the darkest corners of ambient comes utterly minimalistic drone that does not have much motion or emotion. Cold embrace of “Angel Of Death” makes clear that the playwright has decided to let gloomy frequencies play with abstract noises. In “For Jupiter” distorted voice is overrun by rumbling semi-percussion carrying the power we do not know.
The anxiety eases in the first part of “Zero” that covers more than 16 minutes of the B-side. In the beginning it is breathing cold air in the vastness of Mongolian steppes, before strange exotic voices and more dramatic sounds emerge. “God Bless Us All” is a brief conclusion of the release.
Having keen interest in extremely stripped and threatening soundscapes, the AU release felt very promising during pre-listening. But for fully getting into it, the record has to be played loud or listened with top headphones. In my view AU’s “Zero” is written for open-minded home listening, because “dance” is hardly associated with this kind of creation.
As expected, following the evaporation of voluminous Panzerkreuz Mantra Box from the stocks of Godspill, fans of Bunker get a second chance with pricey single releases. AU and Toner High are the first available and probably others are in the pipeline.